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Bruce Wayne's MV Agusta F4 1078
This motorcycle was owned by Bruce Wayne. History “What does the Batman have to do with automobiles?” If that is what’s running on your mind, then I daresay you hardly know anything about Batman. Right when the first comic came featuring Batman in the 1960’s, he has been strongly associated with highly customized automobiles that includes bikes, cars, aircrafts, helicopters, gliders, buggies, tanks etc.,. This week, we swing a leg over the motorcycle that is used by Batman’s daylight alias – Mr. Bruce Wayne. Hardcore superbike fans would have guessed the bike already. If you’re not of them, then here it goes: In the movie “The Dark Knight” (2008), Bruce Wayne takes out his MV Agusta F4 1078 to meet Melvin White at 1502, Randolph Apartments (oh yeah! I’m a fanatic of the trilogy), as directed by his butler Alfred. So this little (!?!) motorcycle here is the subject of our column this week. Let me be honest. There are two reasons why I chose this bike for the column. 1. It is much ignored when it comes to Batman’s vehicles – mostly overshadowed by the batpod, the bat, the tumbler and the like. I thought I could bring this bike out to the limelight. 2. Simply because I love this machine. The MV Agusta marque which is not so familiar with people, is like the Lamborghini of two wheels. And by people, I mean people who are not into motorcycles. In other words, almost all men could identify a Yamaha R1, but that is not the case with the MV Agusta. So to begin with, MV Agusta is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company founded in 1945, at the end of the Second World War. The MV in the brand name stands for “Meccanica Verghera”. It was originally an Aviation oriented company called “Agusta” which was actually founded in 1923.Verghera is a little town near Milan in Cascina Costa, Italy. The company initially started out by manufacturing small-displacement Café Racer style motorcycles which faced a downside in the 1960s. So MV started producing bigger capacity motorcycles - 250cc, a 350cc twin, leading on to a 600 cc four-cylinder that evolved into a 750 cc. The food chain was topped by the flagship model, the F4 series, which helped in the resurrection of the brand after a major economic blow in 1998. Our subject this week, the MV Agusta F4 1078, is a part of this series. On the technical side, the heart of the machine is a liquid cooled inline four cylinder, with twin overhead camshafts (DOHC), 16 radial valves, electronic multipoint injection and induction discharge electronic ignition. The specialty of this core is that it was derived of the FERRARI FORMULA ONE engine of 1990 – 1992. The F4’s characteristic radial valve tech was the element that was borrowed from Ferrari’s engineers, which make them distinct and unique in the sense that it is the only radial valved motorcycle currently in production. Technical specifications ENGINE Type: Liquid-cooled, 16-valve, DOHC, in-line four-cylinder Capacity: 1078cc Bore x stroke: 79mm x 55mm Compression ratio: 13:1 Fuel system: Weber-Marelli electronic fuel injection Emissions: Euro 3 TRANSMISSION Type: Six-speed cassette Final drive: Chain Clutch: Wet CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR Frame type: Steel tubular trellis Front suspension: Marzocchi 50mm upside-down forks with rebound, compression and preload adjustment, 130mm travel Rear suspension: Sachs monoshock with rebound, high-low compression and preload adjustment, 120mm travel Front brakes: Twin 320mm discs with Brembo monobloc four-piston radial calipers Rear brakes: 210mm disc with Brembo four-piston caliper Wheels: Forged aluminium-alloy, front 3.50 x 17 five-spoke, rear 6.00 x 17 seven-spoke Tyres: Pirelli Diablo Rosso, front 120/70-17, rear 190/55-17 DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES Rake: Not given Trail: 103.8mm Claimed dry weight: 192kg Claimed wet weight: Not given Seat height: 810mm Wheelbase: 1408mm Ground clearance: 130mm Fuel capacity: 21lt PERFORMANCE Claimed maximum power: 190hp (140kW) at 13,000rpm Claimed maximum torque: 124Nm at 8200rpm Appearances *''The Dark Knight'' *The Dark Knight (novelization) Video Footage of Bruce Wayne aka Batman riding this marque is shown in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_QCmKTEX0c Wayne, Bruce's MV Agusta